The events of this issue occur before and during the events of Descendants #31 and #32.

“Check out where this Donaldsonville place is,” Ian was reading the information off his palmtop. “Ascension Parish! If that’s not a good sign for us, I don’t know what is.”

In the driver’s seat, Alexis remained dour, her hair whipping violently thanks to the convertible’s top being down. If not for the cross look on her face, it would have been a perfect picture of summer.

“You know,” Ian soldiered on with his attempted levity, “Because we’re the Descendants and we’re going to…” He sighed. “Okay, I screwed up. At least I think I screwed up, I’m not clear on how though. Last I heard, you and your family were a close as any I know. How was I supposed to know things changed?”

“You could have asked.” Came the answer, half muttered into the wind.

“I thought I was giving you a nice surprise.” Ian frowned at the passing Louisiana landscape. There was silence save for the roar of the wind. Never one comfortable with silence, he was compelled to attempt conversation again. “So what happened?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? The evil eye and icy silence say otherwise.” The humor went unappreciated, earning him another evil eye. He took the hint and got serious. “I just want to know why what I did was bad. I’ve told you everything that’s ever bothered me, no fair hiding.”

Alexis sighed. “Nothing is the problem. You remember how much you heard from me in the couple of years before everything happened? That’s how much my family heard from me too. I was so focused on what I was doing; how much good I thought I was doing, that I let myself drop off the radar.”

Understanding hit Ian like a linebacker. “So when I called your mom and told her we’d be in the area and would like to visit…”

“It was the first time she’d heard from me in a little over three years.”

“I’m a real prick then.” Said Ian, chewing his lip. “Well, we could just go straight to Donaldsonville, or back to Livingston and get a get a hotel instead.”

Alexis shook her head. “No, It’s not like I don’t want to see them, I just don’t like the prospect of the chewing out my mom and dad are going to give me for disappearing.” The tension broken, the last fifteen miles to Baton Rouge was far more comfortable for both.

On the other side of the country, another homecoming was also in the making.

Melissa had never been to California in her life, much less Angel’s Camp. But that was where her family was now. Eddie, her father was retired and helping Gwen, her mother run a small craft shop in the city. Together, they were raising Kyle, the brother who hadn’t even been conceived when she disappeared.

A hand covered her arm and delivered comforting warmth. “You’ll be fine.” Laurel said, giving her a gentle smile. “They miss you a lot and from what I hear, your little brother can’t wait to meet his big sister.”

They were walking down the street, looking for Gwen’s Canvas, the arts and crafts store her mother owned.

“It’s got to be pretty damaging for a kid to hear that someone he thinks died before he was born is alive and coming to visit.” Melissa mused aloud.

“That’s your way of saying you’re excited, right?” Laurel asked, “Tell the truth; I know you’ve been waiting a long time for this; ever since they weren’t able to make it to Mayfield last Fall.”

A rueful smile played on Melissa’s lips. “It’s true. I’ve dreamed about it ever since I got out. But there’s so much that can go wrong. They’ve lived ten, elven years and they’re getting me back only a year older. And all the Hope stuff—how are they going to react to that? Is it even fair to put this on them?”

“It’s better they know what to expect and take steps to protect themselves than to be taken by surprise, isn’t it?” Laurel asked. “It’s only fair to them, Melissa.”

“That’s easy for you to say, you’re not about to tell your parents that just by existing, you’re putting their lives in danger. What if they can’t handle it, huh? What if they—“

Laurel gave Melissa’s arm a squeeze. “Melissa, your parents cried when I told them on the phone that you were coming home. And they were understanding, if very confused, about how you haven’t aged. They are not going to blame you for something you can’t control.” She glanced up and saw the sign for Gwen’s Canvas. “Here it is. I’m not going to push you, Melissa, but I think we both know that you can’t come this close and not take that last step.”

“How do I look?” Ian tried to catch his reflection in the shiny surface of the door knocker on the Keyes family home.

Alexis gave him an incredulous look. He was trying to put her at ease about the coming explanations and guilt trips and it was working. “Why? Since when have you ever cared how you look for my family? They love you like the son they never had.”

“That was when I was their daughter’s geeky sidekick. Now I’m trying to look like the potential son-in-law they never had.” Ian replied, trying to get his hair to lie flat. “Should have bought a comb.” He huffed, mussing his hair in a frenzied action.

At that moment, the door opened and Anita Keyes, Alexis’s mother, was staring him in the face. She was in her early fifties, with dark brown hair hanging loose almost all the way to her hips and with green eyes that made her relation to Alexis exceedingly clear.

Ian froze, his eyes locking with the older woman’s. “Uh… evening, Mrs. Keyes.” He slowly lowered his hands. “I… uh… a mosquito. There was a mosquito in my hair. He’s gone now. And…”

Alexis stepped in to prevent further embarrassment. “Mom, I—“ She didn’t get any further before being swept up in a crushing hug.

“Lexy! My god, what happened to you? We heard all about what happened at the Academy and we were afraid you got yourself investigated by Congress or something.” She held her daughter out at arm’s length and gave her a measured look. “You’re not on the run are you?”

That made Alexis blanche. “Ma, no. Oh my god, do you actually think I’d actually knowingly be involved in that sort of stuff?”

“How am I supposed to know anything when I haven’t heard from you in forever?” Mrs. Keyes countered. “And no, I didn’t think you’d do it knowingly, but you hear all the time about these people that work for companies doing all sort of illegal things and not even knowing.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t call or email.” Alexis said, the comment had hit a little too close to home though and reflexively, she added, “Plus, I did figure it out in time. I’m… sort of the whistleblower that started what happened to them.”

“Yeah.” Ian jumped in. “You could say that she’s a her—oof!”

Alexis cut him off with an elbow in the side. “And don’t worry about my job, mom, I’m working for a new school. A reputable one this time. In fact, that’s why we ended up in the neighborhood; we’re trying to scout a young man in Donaldsonville for the Liedecker Institute in Mayfield.”

The word ‘Mayfield’ made Mrs. Keyes’s eyebrow twitch. “I’m sure you’re doing a lot of good, sweetie, but that’s no excuse to cut your family out.”

“I wasn’t trying to cut you out.” Alexis protested, “I love you all. I just got caught up and…”

“And it’s not going to happen again. Understand?” Mrs. Keyes said firmly.

Alexis lowered her eyes. “No ma’am. It won’t.”

“Good, because you’re not too old for me to ground.” The older woman’s gaze softened. “Now you two get in this house. Your sisters have been waiting here all day, eating all my food and your daddy’s bringing dinner home from the restaurant.”

The mere mention of Alex Keyes’s cooking set Ian’s mouth to watering. The entire reason the Keyes family lived in Louisiana was so that Alex could live his dream of first learning and then honing his craft in the art of Cajun cooking from the local masters. “Please say shrimp.” He gave Mrs. Keyes a hopeful look.

“This week’s special was catfish.” The Keyes matriarch replied, ushering the pair into the house. Ian sighed. “But, just for calling us and bringing our girl home, I made sure Al’s bringing a special plate just for you.”

“Mrs. Keyes, you just sent me to heaven.” Ian grinned.

It was funny how details suddenly became more important the closer you came to taking a big step in your life, Melissa noted somewhere deep in her mind. The clear, but erratic tinkling of the old fashioned bell hung over the door, the woody smell that permeates a place where a great deal of paper and balsa wood was collected. She even noticed the unfashionable, but probably economical pink and blue checked carpet, though that was probably due to keeping her eyes down.

Laurel was beside her, a strong yet gentle hand on her arm; partly to calm her, partly—at least Melissa assumed—to keep her from bolting.

The most damning detail though was the silence. No happy sobs, not joyous exclamations, only dead silence. And then… a small hiccough. Her eyes swung up and to the right. Her eyes locked with those of her mother who was frozen in place, jaw clenched, tears streaming silently down her face.

Though ten years had added some weight to her figure, lines to her face, and gray to her strawberry blonde hair, it was definitely her mother. The same mother to whose ‘love ya’ she had ignored that fateful day she had returned to the Academy.

They stood there, in mutual shock for several minutes. Finally Gina Forrester voiced the only thought going through her mind. “Melissa? Is that really you?”

From behind, Laurel gave Melissa slight shove to get her walking forward. “Go on.” She whispered.

“I-it’s me.” Melissa said hesitantly approaching the counter. “I’m…” she didn’t know how to finish that sentence.

Mrs. Forrester stepped out from behind the counter and reached out to caress her once lost daughter’s face like a blind woman. “You look… You’re… It’s true what she said, you look like you did the day I dropped you off.”

Not wanting to intrude, but feeling the need to explain, Laurel cleared her throat. “Mrs. Forrester? I’m Laurel Brant, we spoke on the phone?”

Still engrossed in having her daughter returned, Mrs. Forrester only paid her the slightest bit of attention. “Yes, you really were Melissa’s friend back then?”

Technically, she’d been Melissa’s roommate’s friend, but there was no reason to clarify that. “Yes, I was. I was also there when we found her in the Academy stasis cell. I just wanted to assure you that aside form from time shock, Melissa’s perfectly healthy. She’s just been very nervous about this moment.”

Eyes traveling back to the still mute Melissa, Mrs. Forrester shook her head. “No, honey, there’s nothing to be worried about. You’re home now, baby. Home.” She wrapped her arms around the girl, who immediately clamped her arms around her.

“I’m sorry.” Melissa spoke the first words she’d spoken to her mother in eleven years. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about honey.” Mrs. Forrester cooed. Craning her neck toward the back of the store, she called, “Tim? Tim, come out here!”

Melissa stiffened, but didn’t let go of her mother.

“Mom, other kids get to go to the beach during the summer.” A young boy’s voice complained as it traveled up the aisles toward the front. “Why do I get stuck with, “ he appeared, ginger hair matted by sweat, face twisted into a sour expression. That expression melted away when he saw he scene at the front of the store. “doing… inventory…” he trialed off.

It took some work to turn Melissa around to present her to her brother, but Mrs. Forrester finally managed it. “Tim, this is your sister, Melissa.” She stroked Melissa’s hair soothingly. “Melissa, this is Tim: your baby brother.”

-- • --

Silence settled over the room again. Melissa had been so concerned about her parents; she hadn’t really been able to think just how alien a situation it would be to suddenly come face to face with a brother she’s never had.

Both of them studied the ground. Finally, Melissa decided that it was her responsibility to be the first to say something. But all she could manage was a weak wave and a ‘hi’ to match.

Tim ducked his head and answered with ‘hey’. It wasn’t much, but at least it was something.

“Tim,” Mrs. Forrester said, having collected herself enough to take charge of the situation. “Why don’t you show Melissa the studio and you two can get to know each other. I need to close up so we can all go home once your father comes back.”

“Dad?” Melissa asked, realizing exactly what she’d felt was missing. He was the one she owed the biggest apology to. “Where is he?”

“A the bank, taking care of some things with the loan on this place.” Mrs. Forrester replied, unable to keep from smiling at her children. “He didn’t want to go, but he had to.” She explained. “But he should be back any minute now. Tim?”

At his mother’s nod, Tim gestured toward the back of the store, remaining mute as he started to lead the way.

“Have fun.” Laurel said after Melissa. She was now alone with Mrs. Forrester.

Before she could say anything, the older woman had a death grip on her hands, shaking them. “Thank you, Ms. Brant. Thank you so much for bringing my little girl back to me.”

“I’m happy to do it.” Laurel assured her. “And you can call me Laurel.”

“And you can call me, Gwen.” Said Gwen, wiping tears from her eyes.

“Of course, Gwen.” Laurel said. “There are some things I need to tell you though. On the phone, I promised to explain the whole thing and I intend to—“

“I’m just so happy to have her back.” Gwen said, completely ignoring what she was being told. “It broke my heart when they declared her dead and it’s been so long since then. “Did you get the people that did this to her?”

The question was one even Laurel’s superhuman intellect wasn’t ready for. “Excuse me?” She blinked.

“I mean your agency, or the police, whoever you’re working for.”

Hindsight being 20/20, Laurel realized that it would only be logical to assume that she was an official of some sort. She dispelled that quickly. “Mrs—Gwen, I’m not with any agency. Like I told you on the phone, I knew Melissa back in school; at the Academy. Did you… hear what happened with the Academy last year?”

The mere mention of the Academy caused the other woman to stiffen. “I knew it was them.” She muttered, suddenly intent on busying herself with clearing the register. “I should have guessed, you know? What kind of school tells you not call or write? All we got were letters and they were so general.” She wasn’t counting the money, so much as shuffling it.

“They fooled us all.” Laurel sympathized. “I was inside and I never thought twice. I thought Melissa got tired of us and went back home. Then when we…” The memory of the days surrounding the discovery was a blur, but the actual shock of finding the stasis cells, especially the stasis cell containing someone she knew, was crystal clear. Clearing her throat, she continued, “When we found her and the others…”

“I’m just glad it’s over.” Gwen slammed the register shut. “And now we can settle down and be a normal family again. Normal enough at least.” It was clearly a reference to Melissa’s powers, but Laurel couldn’t tell if it was disappointment, or a jest.

Of course, the truth was that it wasn’t over. The Academy was one limb of a much bigger monster. And the monster that was Project Tome was very much alive. It would be wrong to lie to Melissa’s mother and agree. But it wasn’t her place to tell the truth either.

Before Laurel could open her mouth, the bell above the door rang. Both women looked to see the broad shouldered, slightly slouched figure of Eddie Forrester at the door.

“Eddie!” Gwen burst out, “She’s home, Eddie! It’s all over now!” She ran to embrace and kiss her husband.

Feeling the weight of the situation bearing down on her, Laurel frowned at them and did all she had the right to do. “Mr. and Mrs. Forrester?” She said, interrupting the celebration. “I think you need to speak with your daughter.”

Instincts that hadn’t been needed in years told Ian to cover his ears the second Alexis’s sisters saw her. The Keyes sisters seeing each other after spans of time longer than a week or two was equivalent to standing in front of the speaker at a Ladies of Ragnarok concert, so it stood to reason that a multi year absence would trigger a sonic blast powerful enough to dig a miles wide trench in the moon.

All four were immediately out of their seats and crowded around their sister; demanding an explanation as to where she’d been, trying to tell her what she’d missed in their lives, and critiquing her makeup, dress and hair.

Somehow, Alexis managed to get all of it despite having it shouted at her in four voices. There was a lot to apologize and make up for. She’d missed her elder sister, Victoria’s graduation from medical school as well as her fellow middle sister, Nicole’s college graduation. Her baby sisters, Lydia and Kylie had both started college since she’d been gone, though twenty-two year old Lydia had taken the long path to that goal after spending some time in Australia. And to top it all off, Nicole was engaged!

Finally breaking away from the swarm, Alexis managed to take a seat and digest the information. This left Ian, still standing by the door next to Mrs. Keyes, completely open to Lydia sidling up beside him and throwing an arm over his shoulder. “Look who she bought with her!” she exclaimed like he was the catch of the day. That touched off more squeeing as the sisters finally recognized him.

“I bet Ian didn’t get ignored all this time.” Nicole pouted.

“Yeah, that’s a bet you would lose.” Ian replied, trying to shrug away from Lydia, but not being very successful at it. In fact, all it did was make the girls laugh harder and Alexis scowl a bit deeper.

“Aw, look at him.” Victoria giggled, throwing herself back into an arm chair. Her black hair was long enough to drape over the entire back of the seat. “I always told you, and here’s the proof; it doesn’t matter that you got cute after high school, you still act all awkward around women. How do you expect to get anywhere with a girl when you’re playing Watson for another girl?”

“Actually, that’s not why I’m—“Ian tried once more to escape Lydia and ended up backed against a bookcase.

“Don’t listen to her, Ian,” Lydia said with a smile. “I always thought you were cute, remember?”

“And he always thought you were eleven back then.” Kylie snarked, reaching for a cookie on a platter set out on the coffee table. While the others had dressed for an occasion, she was just in sweats and a ratty T-shirt.

“But I’ve really grown up since then.” Lydia gave Ian a lecherous look.

“Okay!” Alexis said, getting up from the couch she’d been sharing with Kylie. She quickly stepped in and separated Lydia from Ian. “That’s enough of that.”

Lydia responded by pouting. “You never minded before.”

Alexis glared down the pout. “Well things change.” Without thinking about it, she turned and gave Ian a deep kiss.

“You owe me fifty.” Kylie said to Victoria as the others, including Mrs. Keyes, actually applauded.

“It’s about time.” Lydia said, grinning at Alexis. “So where’s the rock?”

“Rock?” Alexis parroted dumbly.

“The ring.” Nicole clarified by displaying her own.

“Oh!” Alexis suddenly took a step away for Ian. “We’re not… I mean we haven’t…”

“Not just yet.” Ian tried to help out. It was too late though, the dismal air of disappointment was in the room. “Someday though.” He tried again to no avail.

“That wasn’t the news I was expecting anyway.” Victoria drawled. It was clear she’d had more than her share of wine for the day. “I would have thought you’d have told us yourself though. Hell, I’d have thought you’d have jumped at the chance.”

“Jumped at the chance to tell you what?” Alexis asked, trying to look innocent.

Victoria nodded to Kyle, who reached into the magazine rack and came up with a copy of the Mayfield Scribe. Just the sight of the logo put Alexis’s senses on high alert. The picture put to bed any hope that it wasn’t she feared it would be. It was Darkness carrying two small children up and away from the wreckage of a boat in the middle of the St. Anne River.

There was nothing for it but to confirm or deny. “Uh… you see…”

“Do you read comic books?” Melissa asked. It wasn’t an answer to the question put to her by her younger brother, but the only thing she could thing of was how Warrick probably broke this same news to his younger sibling.

Tim wrinkled his nose. “Na, they’re for old people.”

“Oh.” Of course it couldn’t be that simple. Melissa scolded herself. They were in a small studio in the back of the store. There wasn’t any finished or even partly finished work there at the moment, but Melissa found it easier to fiddle with the drop cloths than look Tim in the eye.

She tried again. “Did you see that movie– what was the name of it again? Attack… Taskforce?”

“Taskforce: Earth?” Tim asked, taking a seat, cross-legged, against a wall. “Yeah, it was okay. I don’t see what that’s got to do with what happened to you though?”

Melissa frowned at a paint stained cloth. “I’m getting to that.” She said, “But you know how they all had powers?”

“Is this about your powers?”

“Y—wait, you knew about that?” Melissa goggled.

Tim nodded. “Mom and Dad talk about it. You know, when they talk about you. They say I might have powers too. Do you think so?”

“I couldn’t tell you. Mine have only been a lot of trouble for me.”

“What can you do?”

Now there was a question. Scientifically stated, she subconsciously emitted a frequency that simulated a number of biological processes, mostly having to do with cell replication and endorphin release. Put plainly…

“I heal people and make them happy.” Melissa braced for the inevitable follow-up. How, everyone always asked, could either of those things ever be a bad thing?

People that asked that never actually had such powers. They’d never felt the frustration of not being able to hold a conversation with people because after twenty minutes of proximity, they were high as a kite. They’d never had to take pills that gave them cramps and practice meditation to shut it off and keep it off. And they’d never tried to garner sympathy when everyone they talked to about the major problems in their life grinned like an idiot jack-o-lantern.

Those were all before the shadowy, often violent organization had set out to use her as a guinea pig or worse because she had a power they wanted.

“I guess I see how that’d be annoying.”

Again, she’d been thrown a curveball. “Hmm?” she asked, not sure she’d heard it herself.

“You know, if you make people happy, everyone would want it all the time and they’d bother you about it a lot.” Tim said sagely.

Melissa blinked. She’d never considered it that way before.

“Yeah.” She agreed, finally meeting her sibling’s eye and giving him a slight smile. “That would be annoying.”

-- • --

It took nearly a full minute of fidgeting on Alexis’s part before Ian stepped in to try and field the accusation. “What makes you think Alexis has anything to do with Darkness?” he asked.

Lydia returned to her seat on the couch. “Oh please, Ian, don’t try that. There’s only three people we know that can do the black heat thing and Daddy and Aunt Rosalyn really don’t have the figure for this get-up.” She gestured toward the picture.

“There could be other people with powers like yours.” Ian retorted, having already seen that response coming. “Lord knows that’s plenty of wind and water manipulators like me and Isaac.”

“Wasn’t your nickname or whatever when you went to the psionic school ‘Darkness’, Lexy?” Victoria asked slyly.

“Yes.” Alexis said hesitantly, “But it isn’t like those names are required to be unique and—“

“One of the people on her team is called Chaos.” Lydia added, and then gave Ian a bemused look. “And that was what your handle was, wasn’t it, Ian?”

He and Alexis shared a look. “Oh my god, we’re so stupid.” Alexis palmed her face and shook her head in disgust. “Wait, no, our super intelligent best friend is so stupid, she’s the one that told us to go by those handles.”

“Well it’s pretty obvious even without the name.” Victoria said. A victorious look settled on her face. “I mean look at this picture, when you don’t have your heat up, you can totally see those Romani features under that cowl. You think we don’t know out own sister?”

“We thought that would be the first thing you’d talk about when you came home.” Mrs. Keyes said with disappointment in her tone. “I didn’t want to ruin your surprise though, so I didn’t mention it.” She sat down heavily on the arm of the couch and idly fussed with Nicole’s hair.

“Yeah,” Kylie chimed in, leaning back and gesturing lazily at Victoria, “I was really looking forward to seeing you top ‘The Great Doctor Keyes’ with Super-Lexy.” Victoria reached over a playfully batted at the gesturing arm.

Alexis held up her hands as a signal of defeat. “Okay, okay. You guys found out.” She gave them all an apologetic look, especially her mother, “But I wish you hadn’t. I had good reason to try and keep this from you, its danger—“

Out in the hall, the front door opened and a male voice called out, “Hello, can someone give me a hand here? I’ve got catering bags here for a party of fourteen.”

Mrs. Keyes rolled her eyes at her husband’s spoiling of the girls. “There are only eight of us, Alejandro.”

“Yes, but I know that all my girls get their appetite from my side.” Came the reply, which was followed immediately by an exhausted grunt. “Someone please, come on, these things are heavy.”

Kylie smacked her lips dramatically. “I’m coming, Daddy.” She said, getting to her feet.

“I’ll help too, Mr. Keyes.” Ian said, swiftly falling into his old role as the adoptive son of the Keyes family. He shared a silence glance of thanks for the interruption with Alexis before ducking into the hall.

Alejandro Keyes had aged better than his wife, still looking as fit and strong as Ian had known and idolized when he was in high school. His close cropped, black beard was the same and the only hint of age was in his graying and thinning hair.

“Ian!” the older man exclaimed upon seeing the other man. “The boy I never had! Come ’ere.” He sat the two cloth packages he’d been wrestling in the door down and motioned for a hug. As he always did, he greeted Ian by squeezing the air from his lungs, then thumping him on the back hard enough to make him fear bruising.

“Good to see you too, Mr. Keyes.” Ian tried not to show how much Alexis’s father’s exuberance had taken out of him.

“If you’re here, that means, Lexy’s here.” He told Ian rather than asked. “Which means that I’ve got all my favorite women under one roof again. That is cause for a celebration.” He hefted one of the heavy bags and handed it to Ian. “Go put this in the kitchen, okay? We need to catch up.”

“Oh, you have no idea.” Kylie said, finally making her appearance with Alexis right behind. She turned a wolfish grin back on Alexis as she accepted the other bag.

Mr. Keyes raised an eyebrow at this, but reached out to pull Alexis into a far less crushing hug. They didn’t need words, Alexis had not only inherited his powers, but she was named after him; clearly her father’s favorite.

With a playful tossling of his daughter’s hair, he inclined his head toward the retreating figures of Ian and Kylie. “So what was that about? The Descendants thing? ‘Cause I told your mother, if that’s why you’ve been gone, that’s a damn better reason than we could’ve dreamed up, Lexy, and—“

Alexis stopped him by shaking her head. “It’s not that and… I’ve got a lot of explaining to do about that too.” Taking a deep breath after her initial rush of words, she said more slowly, “But that was because Ian and I… well we’re a couple now.”

Eyes flashing, Mr. Keyes looked up to where Ian had already frozen in place upon hearing Alexis’s revelation. “Ian!” He said loudly and forcefully.

Very slowly, holding the catering bag like a shield, Ian turned around. “Yes, Mr. Keyes?”

“Ian, why didn’t you tell her mother when you called?” Mr. Keyes asked, visibly perplexed, “I would have bought some wine. This is great news, better than the Descendants thing even, ‘cause this is about love.” He glanced back at the door. “Maybe I can go down to—“

“Alejandro, if the girls don’t get some food in them now, they’re going to start eating the drywall!” Mrs. Keyes called from the living room. “And I swear Lydia was eyeing the golden retriever next door out the window.”

Mr. Keyes frowned. “No wine then.” He said, “But I’ve still got my girls, my lovely wife, and my future son-in-law.”

Victoria came to stand in the archway between the living room and the front hall. “And we know how much you love good conversation during dinner, Daddy, so we’ll let Lexy’s explanation of why she didn’t tell us what she was doing wait until it’s served.”

Laurel felt the guilt of causing this scene eating away at her deep inside. Academically, she knew that this was the best course of action. Directly confronting Melissa on it would keep her from agonizing over how to tell her parents and how they would react.

But her heart went out to the entire family, so recently reunited, as they were forced to face the reality that there was a group of people waiting to tear them apart once more, possibly with even worse results.

They were in the studio; Mr. And Mrs. Forrester sitting side by side, gripping one another’s hands. Mrs. Forrester was half leaning on the equally unsteady shoulder of their husband while he refused to let got of his newly found daughter’s hand hand. Tim was sitting off to the side only by command of his mother. He had the look of an extremely bored child.

Melissa was trying to calm her parents down, while looking to Laurel for help. It was a situation of her own making. The first words she uttered when her father had finally worked up the courage to ask why Laurel had told him to ask her about it being over were ‘I’m not sure if I can stay.’

“No, baby, no.” Ms. Forrester was repeating over and over as Melissa tried to regain her attention. “You’re back. You’re safe. No.”

Mr. Forrester was in stunned silence. He hadn’t even had the time his wife had gotten to believe his daughter was back for good before it was stolen from him.

“No, listen, please.” Melissa was on the verge of tears too. Before, she hadn’t cared what nasty things she said to them, now she was feeling guilty for telling the truth. “You’ve got to understand, I want to stay. I really, really do.”

“Then stay.” Her mother replied, “That’s all you have to do.”

Melissa shook her head. “It’s not that… Mom, Dad; maybe Tim shouldn’t be here for this.”

That brought Mr. Forrester back to his senses. “No. ‘Lissa, we haven’t been a family together before. And if this is all the time we’re going to get to be a family, then we’re going to take it.”

“It’s not that.” Melissa ignored the use of her hated nickname and fumbled for explanation. “I mean that the reason I may not be staying—may. May not.” She said for the benefit of her mother. “It’s something a kid shouldn’t have to hear.”

“He should know this time.” Ms. Forrester managed, “Why he’s losing his sister.”

“He’s not losing—you’re not losing me.” Melissa struggled. “Even if I can’t stay, it doesn’t mean I’m not going to call or visit… or that you can’t visit me… some of the others…”

“What others?” Ms. Forrester half sobbed. “Melissa, please tell us what’s going on here.”

Melissa tried to center herself with a deep breath before launching into her best explanation of what had happened. For her brother’s sake and to reduce her parent’s worry, she skimped on the details of what TOME had done to other captured psionics like Kareem. She also skipped the more harrowing parts of her role as team healer with the Descendants.

“So that’s the problem.” Melissa finally said in conclusion, “They still want me and the others just as bas as that wanted that girl in Virginia Beach. And they were willing to do anything it took to get us. If I stay here, they’ll eventually find me and… and…” She couldn’t.

The gravity of the situation silenced everyone else as well, save for Tim, whose eyes glittered upon mulling over what Melissa had just said, “Bad guys like that really exist? That’s amazing!”

“Tim.” Mrs. Forrester said sharply. Then she locked eyes with her daughter. “I don’t care. Let them send their invisible man, their mind controller, those evil dogs—“Her tone grew more forceful with each word. “I don’t care. You’re mine. My child. Not theirs.”

A tear escaped Melissa’s eye. “Mom, I… you can’t fight them.”

“But you have powers!” Mrs. Forrester said. She turned to Laurel, “And you do too! The two of you could stop them, couldn’t you?”

“Mom, I can heal people and make them feel good. If I work really hard, I can make someone pass out. I can’t fight a private army.”

Laurel almost shrank from Mrs. Forrester’s desperate gaze. “My power isn’t combat ready either, Gwen.” She apologized with her eyes. “Plus, there are other kids that need to be looked after. I can’t stay here either.”

“But I can visit.” Melissa pointed out. “Warrick and Cyn went to his place in New York for Christmas. And you can visit me.”

“That’s right.” Laurel said, “And I’ll even pay your airfare and hotel. The best in the city.”

This didn’t seem to placate Ms. Forrester though. “But you only just got here.” She said to Melissa, tears in her eyes. “I just got you back! I can’t let you go so soon.”

Laurel brushed a stray hair out of her eyes and gave this some thought. “I know it’s not much…” She said, “But school doesn’t start back in Mayfield until the third. That’s ten days from now. I need to get back at the end of the weekend, but there’s no reason you have to come back with me, Melissa.”

Ten days to reconnect with a family ten years removed. It was an impossible task, but it was one that Melissa was more than ready to accept.

Dinner with the Keyes family was exactly as Ian remembered; the first few minutes was essentially a feeding frenzy with Mrs. Keyes alone trying to maintain some level of decorum as her husband and daughters acted quickly to dole out rice and potatoes and fish and skewers of vegetables onto their plates before they had to pass the bowls and platters on.

True to his word, Mr. Keyes had made up a plate especially for his son from another father and made sure it alone escaped the predations of Kylie in particular.

Once everyone had helped themselves, had taken their first bites and expressed their appreciation to the family patriarch, if was surprising to see that it was normally quiet Nicole that started the conversation by tapping her glass with the edge of her spoon.

Evidently, the others were also shocked that their shrinking violet was asking for attention, because they quickly became quiet for her.

Nicole blushed and clasped her hands nervously. “I just wanted to say that even though we’ve been giving her a hard time and some of us may be upset that she’s been gone so long, I think I speak for all of us when I say I’m glad to have our sister back.” She quickly sat down amid her family’s agreement.

“And she’s finally got her a man.” Kylie added, raising her glass.

“Here, here!” Victoria and Lydia raised their glasses as well before dissolving into giggles.

“And a good man too.” Mr. Keyes thumped Ian on the back again, making his teeth rattle. “Not like what’s his name, the guy with the—“he made a sweeping gesture over his own thinning hair, indicating a huge hairdo. “You know, the hair?”

“Lewis?” Alexis shook her head, “Daddy, I wasn’t even going out with him, we were project partners in my biology class in college.”

“That’s not what he thought.” Ian said, echoing Kylie who said it at the same time. “He was very much into you.”

“Or wanted to be.” Kylie added with a lecherous grin.

The conversation became livelier after that, until the mother of the brood, who didn’t seem to be amused finally broke it all up. “Lexy, I’m glad to see you getting along with your sisters again, but don’t you think it’s time to explain all this to us? Like why you said you wish we hadn’t found out about Darkness?”

-- • --

Alexis tried to meet her mother’s gaze and immediately lowered her head. Had she really expected to get through the night without explaining herself? She had indeed been gone too long if she thought her mother would just let it slide that easily.

Under the table, Ian offered her his hand. A brief flash of memory came to her of Ian doing the same when she’d had to explain getting her nose pierced the summer after she first entered the Academy. In fact, he’d done it countless times. Laurel gave her advice and counsel before and after she got in trouble, but Ian had always been there to weather the storms with her.

She patted the hand, but didn’t take it. The truth was that she had dug this hole all on her own and from her perspective; he had as much right to be upset with her as much as her parents for her disappearance.

“First.” She was amazed how small her voice was, “I’ve got to tell the truth. I didn’t disappear because of Darkness and the Descendants. That came later.”

The whole family had stopped eating, save Kylie who took advantage of the lull to add to her plate.

“Then what was so important that you’d cut us out of your life?” Her mother asked. It sounded like a question, but her face made it a demand. “No offense to you, Ian, but Lexy, we’re your family. We shouldn’t be pushed aside before your friends.”

Now Alexis couldn’t even look at Ian either. “I cut them out too.” She said quietly.

“What? Why?” Victoria studied her sister over her wine glass. “Did you have some kind of psychotic break or something? No friends, no family…”

“It was just me, okay.” Alexis finally found someone to set her gaze on and it was her older sister. She felt indebted to her parents and attached to Ian, but she was still an equal with Victoria, Kylie, Nicole and Lydia. “Just me. I didn’t go nuts. I just… I got the offer from the Academy to teach a few days after I got out of college.”

Absently, she picked up her fork and drew patterns in her gravy. “All through high school and college, I had you guys and when I couldn’t talk to you for advice, or to solve my problems, I had Laurel and Ian. I couldn’t even remember the first thing I did for myself alone. I had the most supportive parents possible, the valedictorian sister,” She nodded at Victoria, “my best friend was a multi-billionaire psionic genius, and my other best friend would go to bat for me at the drop of a hat.”

“What’s so bad about that?” Lydia wondered aloud. “By the way, what ever happened to Laurel?”

“She’s—“ Ian started, but Mrs. Keyes glared daggers at him. She wanted to hear the rest of what Alexis had to say. “Good.” He concluded and shut up.

“There’s nothing wrong about that.” Alexis waved her free hand. “But I didn’t think about it back then; how even with that much support, it was still me. I just saw me crutching on everyone around me.” Though she really didn’t want to, she looked at Ian who looked completely surprised at that, considering the reason she’d given before.

“But the Academy, they wanted me. Just me. It wasn’t just my degree they wanted; they liked how I dealt with kids; how I understood powers. So I thought to myself that it was my chance to prove I didn’t have to lean on anyone to do it.

“That’s why I cut everyone off. I expected to come back in five years having proved myself to everyone. Having shown everyone how independent I am.”

“But that wasn’t true.” Ian said, braving Mrs. Keyes’s warning glance. “Hell, I leaned on you and Laurel more than you did us.”

“No, that’s not true either.” Alexis put a hand on his shoulder. “Look,” She turned and looked her parents both in the eye in turn, “Mom and Dad, the truth about how I ended up being Darkness is that I found out all the things you’ve heard about the Academy and they found out I knew.”

“That’s where I turn up in this story.” Ian added before she could go on. He shrugged at the look she gave him. “What? What happened next was pretty much my fault.” He turned back to the Keyes parents.

“Long story short,” Alexis cut in before Ian could scare her family with tales of Prometheus blowing up his house, “We ended up saving some of those kids that got kidnapped. They’re the other Descendants you’ve read about. I’ve spent the last year trying to keep them away from the men behind the Academy and… pretty much against my will at first; we’ve become Mayfield’s prelates in the process.”

She let out a soft chuckle she fully realized the epiphany that had come to her when she’d started telling her story. “The funny thing is; for the past year, I’ve been thinking that they depend on me and Ian and Laurel. But the fact is that we’re not leaning on each other. The kids, they’re the ones that started this prelate business and honestly, that and starting the new school have been incredibly fulfilling. We’ve saved each other, helped each other grow…”

She looked at Ian as she finished. “We aren’t leaning on each other. We never were, Ian. We’re all helping one another. And we shouldn’t forget that.”

“Mom, Dad? Once we talk to the boy in Donaldsonville… do you think we could stay the weekend and catch up?”

It was after midnight and the only light in the guest room of the Forrester home was that of a streetlight filtering through the blinds.

As it turned out, Gwen and Eddie Forrester had kept their missing daughter’s room exactly as it was until they’d move to Angel’s Camp. In a way, Melissa was relieved. Relative to her memory, she’d only been gone for about a year, but being confronted with decade old relics of her old life would have been too much. She’d politely declined her mother’s offer to get her things out of storage.

The day had gone surprisingly well. After her mother had closed the store, Laurel had gone back to her hotel and left the Forresters to get reacquainted. Melissa had been treated to a tour of her new hometown and family home. The whole family had eaten out. She’d learned the truth of how her parents hadn’t been fooled by the Academy’s fake correspondence and tried to petition the government on the matter.

It was a massive weight lifted off her shoulders that she hadn’t been forgotten, that her passing, in whatever form, had been mourned.

The evening brought them back home, where Melissa tried, in as many detail-light terms as possible, to recount her experiences at Freeland House. Tim had teased her, saying her thought she had a crush on Kareem, and then teased her again about her real boyfriend Terry. Life with Cyn had prepared her well for having a younger sibling.

After much oohing and ahhing over events that in truth, Melissa was only tangently part of at best, her father had suggested playing some games as part of the family bonding theme of the day. It embarrassed Melissa a bit that she wasn’t familiar with most of the games, played on a flat, OLED screen, but she found that she really enjoyed them once she learned how to play.

Four hours of Question Bombard, Bridges and Battlements, and Pioneers later, Tim had gone to bed and she’d faced more questioning about Freeland House and the Descendants from her parents.

Ten years ago, Melissa would have hated it. A day ago, she would have frayed her nerves about it. But as quickly as she’d been ripped away form them, Melissa once more found safety and comfort in their presence, more than she had when she’d never lost them.

Lying in the strange bedroom, listening to the content silence that only forms around a house full of loved ones, Melissa smiled. She was finally home.

But she knew she couldn’t stay. Project Tome would find her and the others again, there wasn’t a doubt. And when they did, they would send all they had in the way of Enforcers and other agents. They would send Inugami and who knew whatever horrors science twisted by greed and evil could conjure.

Melissa knew she couldn’t stay because she couldn’t lead Tome to her family. Because she loved them.

The epiphany hit before she realized it. She loved them enough to fight. Just like the mysterious Vorpal had told her to fight before in the boathouse in Mayfield when she was searching for Kareem. Now she had a reason and a will. She would do whatever it took to protect what she’d finally regained.

Somewhere in Nevada, deep beneath the Earth, something was breathing and dreaming. And it was being watched by people who didn’t know about the dreams.

“Where did they find it?” Simon Talbot asked, looking down at the massive form through reinforced, field backed glass from a height of three stories.

“Montana.” Ronald Powell was as gruff in voice as his age worn face suggested. He looked like a grey haired bulldog and the matching attitude had gotten him to where he was in the organization even when technical know-how failed. “Outriders found it living in the rocks, preying on livestock.”

“It’s a miracle we found it first.” Talbot marveled at the bulk of the restrained thing they were watching. Scientists were still fitting it with additional restrains in addition to the various monitoring systems. It was slow going as the creature was entirely alien and thus they didn’t know how it reacted to the drug cocktail. “How big is it?”

“Something around eighty feet, nose to tail.” Powell supplied, reading from his palmtop. “Wings are little over a hundred feet, which means it shouldn’t have been able to fly.”

“It shouldn’t be a hexapodal vertebrate either.” Talbot pointed out. “But you run Freak Central here. You know that the rules we know don’t apply to any of the Outsiders. Biology, Physics, The Law of Conservation of Energy even. They break more rules than descendants even dream of breaking. How are the scans going?”

“Primary data-scan is pretty garbled, as you’d expect.” Powell said. “Damn thing’s got about twelve times the hot spots the other Outsiders have; six in the brain alone, two in the mouth, the nose… the list goes on. It’s like a living generator; we could hook her up to the grid and power the place.”

“Her?”

“Hmm?”

Talbot frowned. “You called the creature ‘her’. There are no solid rules for sexual dimorphism in these things. It took us a week and extensive scans and dissection to figure out that Species 3841 and Species 3891 were the males and females of the same species. What makes you so sure that this is a she?”

“The scan was garbled, Simon, but not incomplete.” Powell sent an image to Talbot’s own palm top. “See that structure there? Ovary. And you want to know something else we know?”

Talbot looked down on the sleeping hulk far below him, avarice in his eyes. “I want to know everything.”

“The ovum in the ovary isn’t mature yet.” Powell didn’t have to explain that. Talbot was a businessman first, but he knew his biology well enough.

“It’s a juvenile.” Talbot said, just to get the feel for the words. “An eighty foot, fourteen ton, juvenile. It’s not even full grown and it’s double the size of Tyrannosaurus Rex, the largest land predator in history.” He tore his gaze away from his prize to do what he loved most: give orders.

“Fast track this. Samples from all tissues but keep her alive and keep her asleep. I want an entire lab level converted to work only on options on dealing with this sample and only this sample. I know we haven’t had any success with the other Outsiders, but try as hard as you can to clone this. I want a bull fitted with Inugami control suites.”

“A bull?” Powell asked. “Can you even imagine how large an adult male of this species would be?”

“Enormous.” Talbot replied. “And powerful enough that whoever controls it wouldn’t need descendants ever again.

He looked down at the juvenile again. The resemblance to the legends was unmistakable. The horned head, the reptilian hide, the vast, membranous wings… “Powell… answer me honestly, do you think it would be too cutesy to designate this initiative as Cadmus?”

End Issue #32